Doppelganger (2003)

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All Rise...

We think it was Judge Joel Pearce who turned in this review—but reflecting on it, he seemed really mean, and was dressed all in black, and cackled ominously way more often than we're used to from Joel...

The Charge

What if your worst nightmare turned out to be you?

Opening Statement

Although it has a strong first half and some very creepy moments,
Doppelganger runs out of twists and turns halfway through and completely
falls apart.

Facts of the Case

Michio Hayasaki (Kôji Yakusho, Pulse) is a driven scientist on the verge
of creating a machine that can operate through sheer willpower, allowing the
disabled to move around and manipulate objects. Although the project seems to be
at a standstill, things change when he meets his doppelganger. This other
version of him is willing to do unpleasant things that he would never imagine,
but he starts to take advantage of the opportunity. Soon, though, the double
starts to invade other areas of his life, and he is forced to take drastic
action. Helping him is a young woman named Yuka (Hiromi Nagasaku), whose brother
died after meeting his doppelganger.

The Evidence

Horror mythology is a funny thing. Consider vampire movies. Although there
are a number of common elements in vampire mythology, the rules change from
story to story, and we generally accept that. The doppelganger is a less-used
myth, involving a figure that looks identical to you, but is the opposite in
personality. This film references that mythology, as well as the core notion
that seeing your doppelganger means that your death is imminent. Then, it throws
the mythology away, as the two Hayasakis begin to do business with one another.
These kinds of inconsistencies run through the film, holding it back from
becoming the film it ought to have been.

The beginning of Doppelganger is actually pretty good, as Yuka is
haunted by the appearance of her brother's doppelganger after his death. At the
same time, Hayasaki works through his denial of his double and comes to an
acceptance with respect to him. This section of the film is quite creepy, and
asks a number of interesting questions about human nature and duality. Do we
secretly wish for a version of ourselves that is willing to do and say the
things that we are too frightened to do and say? Would it be wonderful or
terrible to spend time with someone who knows us as well as we know ourselves?
Alas, these questions are tossed aside as the film progresses. The logical
climax of the film happens at about the midpoint of the film. After that, it
suddenly becomes a thriller involving a race between Hayasaki, one of his old
business associates, and one of his employees. It has little connection to the
premise of the film, and meanders along aimlessly until the unfocused end of the
film. For a long time I had no idea where the film was headed, and when I found
out, I didn't really care anymore.

There are moments of brilliance in Kôji Yakusho's performance as
Hayasaki and his doppelganger. When the two of them are together, he manages to
make them easily distinguishable without having one of the characters in a silly
hat or different clothes. However, when there is only one of them present, it's
almost impossible to tell which character it is being followed. Perhaps this was
part of the point, but at times I found it baffling enough that I became
disengaged from the film. After all, the film declares itself to feature a
struggle between these two sides. Although the eventual incorporation of the two
halves of him is an interesting twist, that transformation isn't clear enough.
All of the characters seem too callous about violence, even the ones that aren't
supposed to be evil twins. By the end of the film, the regular beatings with
wrenches, tire irons, and other hard metal objects become almost comical, which
I'm sure was not the intent.

There are some strong points to the film. The cinematography is excellent,
especially the split frames used when the two Hayasakis are in the same scene.
If it had only featured a stronger script, I think this could have been a
remarkable film.

It seems fitting that such a disappointing film would be given this video
transfer. It's really ugly. My first guess is that it's been blown up to
anamorphic resolution from a letterboxed print without any remastering. The
whole film lacks detail, and diagonal lines look absolutely dreadful, even on a
relatively small television. On a larger display, it's even worse. The colors
are also muted, making it both dull and fuzzy. The sound transfer is stronger.
Most of the dialogue and sounds come from the front, but the music has been
mixed well using all of the channels. The surrounds could have been put to much
better use, but it's an acceptable track. There's no discernible difference
between the Dolby 5.1 and DTS tracks.

The disc has a few extras, the largest being a production featurette that
shows some behind the scenes footage of the filming process. It is exactly what
I've come to expect from Japanese production featurettes. There is also an
interview with director Kiyoshi Kurosawa, which reveals his reasons for shifting
the tone partway through the film. While I respect his decision to branch out
from the genre that he is associated with, just making a different type of film
up front would have served him better.

Closing Statement

Much like the main character, Doppelganger has two sides. The first is
a slow-paced but effective horror film, which is taken over in the second half
by a silly and scattered action thriller. In the end, I'm not sure whether a
failed attempt at doing something completely different is worse than a
paint-by-numbers genre film that works, but I can tell that Kurosawa is capable
of so much more than this dull and muddled mess.

The Verdict

Doppelganger is guilty, and hereby sentenced to a savage beating with
a tire iron. Kiyoshi Kurosawa is free to go, but encouraged to have a direction
in mind before filming his next project.